Tufton Capital Management Reduces Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Tufton Capital Management lowered its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.4% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 22,888 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 568 shares during the quarter. Tufton Capital Management’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,033,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in Alphabet by 242.9% during the 1st quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 168 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the period. IMA Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter worth about $28,000. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 85.7% in the first quarter. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC now owns 195 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 36.4% during the second quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the period. Finally, MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet during the first quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on GOOGL shares. Loop Capital upped their price objective on Alphabet from $190.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $315.00 target price (up from $250.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $236.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $350.00 target price (up from $290.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have given a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $304.10.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.48, for a total transaction of $9,213,100.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,337,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $662,526,494.12. The trade was a 1.37% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 954 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.33, for a total transaction of $269,342.82. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 14,517 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,098,584.61. This trade represents a 6.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 221,796 shares of company stock valued at $53,983,001 in the last three months. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $276.41 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.34 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $257.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $208.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $292.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 36.08%. The firm had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.90 billion. Equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 8.28%.

Alphabet Company Profile

Alphabet Inc offers various products and platforms in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia-Pacific, Canada, and Latin America. It operates through Google Services, Google Cloud, and Other Bets segments. The Google Services segment provides products and services, including ads, Android, Chrome, devices, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Maps, Google Photos, Google Play, Search, and YouTube.